Anyone here used a dreamachine?
Basically, a dreamachine is a device that uses strobing light to create closed-eye visuals. It was invented in the late 50s by artist Brion Gysin, who was a friend of William Burroughs. It's also an easy DIY project for anyone to make, you just need a record player, a lamp, and common crafting materials like cardstock and scissors. Some further reading for those interested. More info, with instructions to make one of your own.
Anyway, I made a dreamachine a few years ago and have gone through periods of using it heavily. Lately I've been getting back into it and thought it might be of interest to the people here, so this is a "trip report" of sorts. I sit 1-2ft from it in a dark room with my eyes closed, in sessions that last between 15 and 30 minutes. The initial images are pulsing fractal patterns, typically bright green and pink, like the afterimage you get after looking at a bright light. But after a few minutes, these begin to move through a variety of colors and patterns. The colors are usually quite bright, "neon" would even be an apt term. The shapes vary a lot but most often they are repeating patterns. Waves, spirals, interlocking "crystals," organic shapes akin to the veins of leaves, etc. They morph fluidly into each other or will change suddenly. Changing the distance and position of your eyes relative to the light can change the character of the visuals quite a lot.
After this phase is where things become more intriguing, and it's not a place I reach in every session. It begins with the geometric patterns having word associations. These are often tied to what the patterns look like but sometimes the connection is more difficult to understand. And slowly these associations displace the patterns themselves, and I begin to see surreal scenes play out behind my eyelids. For example, I saw sword grow from the ground like a plant. A hand reached out and plucked it from the dirt, and then used it to cut a snake in half. The halves turned into pieces of rope. I do not know what these visions mean, if they mean anything at all, but they feel allegorical to me, like there is something hidden that could be understood if the meanings of every symbol were known. As I said, I don't always reach this point during dreamachine sessions. Usually they are the longer ones, and I have to be in the right headspace before starting.
In addition to the visuals/visions, it puts me in a very relaxed state, which lingers for a few hours afterwards. I tend to feel more focused and creative as well. That may all be placebo, but I have been using the dreamachine before working on music, and have gotten good results.
Anyone else ever make one of these? What were your experiences like? Any current dreamachine users on this sub? One thing I would like to experiment with is trying different patterns for the lampshade, and also getting a turntable with a finer speed control. Right now I can only switch between 33 and 45 rpm, which do produce notably different effects. Being able to fine tune that further could be cool.